


Next Time, Talk It Out

by AdamantlyAutisticAndAdorable



Category: Code Lyoko
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-02-20
Updated: 2018-02-20
Packaged: 2019-03-21 22:24:37
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,743
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13750434
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AdamantlyAutisticAndAdorable/pseuds/AdamantlyAutisticAndAdorable
Summary: Once again, Ulrich Stern acts impulsively, then runs away to avoid consequences.It doesn't work.





	Next Time, Talk It Out

“Jeremie? Is this a good time?” Ulrich peeked into his friend's room, heart pounding in his chest as Jeremie smiled and waved him in.

“Of course! Did you need some help with your physics homework?” Jeremie pushed his glasses up his nose and smiled as he cleared space on his desk.

Ulrich laughed and nodded, pulling out his textbook and notes. “Yeah. I read ahead and I'm having trouble with the new concepts. Figured you could help?”

Jeremie's mouth fell open. “You...read ahead? In physics?”

“Yeah, should I...not have?” Ulrich suddenly worried he'd gotten in terrible until a grin split Jeremie's face.

“No no! It's good! I'm just a little surprised. You're smart Ulrich, buy you always seemed more of a ‘cram the night before’ kind of a learner instead. I'm proud of you, really.”

Ulrich chuckled and looked away, scratching his cheek. “Yeah well, I wanted to surprise Mrs. Hertz and answer her infamous pre chapter questions for once.”

“Then let's get started! You'll know more than her by the time were done here!” Jeremie smiled as he moved so Ulrich could sit next to him. Together, they poured over the book and Jeremie explained concepts and trends and Ulrich took notes.

Eventually they finished the chapter and Ulrich asked if they could keep going. Jeremie happily complied and started in on the next chapter.

While he was talking, Ulrich rested his chin on his hand while he listened. Without quite realizing what he was doing, he leaned in and pressed his lips to Jeremie's in the softest, briefest kiss. Jeremie froze and Ulrich jerked back, eyes wide as his face turned bright red. Jeremie tried to say something, anything, but by the time he could make words, Ulrich had already bolted out the door and down the hall.

Jeremie paused in the doorway, face burning, before he hurried to Aelita's room and knocked on the door. As soon as she opened it, he hurried in.

“Aelita, I need your advice and I need you to promise to never breathe a word of what I'm about to tell you to anyone!”

Aelita's eyebrows rose as she closed the door behind him and nodded. She drew a small ‘x’ over her heart. “I promise, Jeremie. Whatever it is stays between us.”

Jeremie sat on her bed and fiddled with the hems of his sleeves. “Thank you. Okay. So, um, Ulrich… Ulrich kissed me. Just now.”

“Really!? Did you kiss him back?” Aelita's eyes widened as she grinned and sat next to him.

“No, but only because I didn't get the chance to! By the time I realized what was happening, he was out the door!” Jeremie groaned and held his head in his hands. Aelita giggled softly, and Jeremie glared weakly at her. “What's so funny?”

“You didn't kiss him back because you didn't have the chance to, implying you WANTED to kiss him back, which means you like him, and he ran out after you didn't, because he thought you DIDN'T want to kiss him.” Aelita covered her mouth with her hand. “Which means he wanted to kiss you because he likes you, but then when he thought you didn't like him, he ran off.”

“And how is that funny?” Jeremie flushed and looked away, not denying any of it.

“It means you both like each other. But yet another misunderstanding has caused tension in our group. You need to talk to him.”

“But he's not going to want to talk to me,” Jeremie scooted back to lean on the wall. He sighed, gently thumping his head on the wall.

“No, but he has to pass your room to get to his, so you can catch him then,” Aelita grinned wickedly and shrugged. “Especially if he's with Odd, because Odd will pick up on the weird vibe and MAKE Ulrich talk to you.”

Jeremie chuckled and shook his head. “You're evil, you know that?”

“Well, I can't always be sweet. Have to keep you on your toes!”

“Well thank you for all your help, I at least have a plan now,” Jeremie stood and groaned. “But now I have to lurk in my own room to watch for him. Anyway, thanks again, Princess.”

She waved as he left and returned to his room. She pulled out her turntables and hummed as she loaded a few songs to mix, inspired by the unlikely pair.

XxXxXxXxXxX

“Ulrich? Are you...okay?”

Ulrich jumped and looked up, relaxing when he saw it was just William.

“Yeah, just stupid and totally made a fool of myself,” Ulrich tried to nonchalantly wipe his eyes with one hand as he pulled at grass with the other. He'd hidden in the forest, needing some time to think.

William groaned as he got to the ground next to Ulrich, at the base of a large tree. “I'm sure it couldn't have been that bad.”

Ulrich bit his lip. “It was. I kissed Jeremie out of the blue and ran away before he could get mad at me.” Ulrich sighed as William's eyes widened. William put a hand on his back and patted gently.

“Did you give him a chance to kiss you back?” William chuckled when Ulrich shook his head. “Then how do you know he would be angry? I mean, come on, Ulrich. It's not hard to tell Einstein has a huge crush on you.”

“You really think so?” Ulrich asked softly, turning to look at him.

“Oh yeah, Aelita agrees. She says he's head over heels.” William nodded solemnly. “But I know you and I know you need some quiet time to think this over. But if you wanted company, you could come hang out in my room and watch a movie while you think about this.”

“That sounds good,” Ulrich smiled softly and stood, helping William back to his feet. “Thanks, William, I appreciate it.”

“No problem,” William ruffled Ulrich's hair and laughed when Ulrich elbowed him. “Hey, don't be rude now.”

Ulrich rolled his eyes and followed William to the boys dorms. As they passed Jeremie's, he tried to sprint past before Jeremie saw him, but no such luck.

“Ulrich! Can we talk? In private?” Jeremie looked warily at William, who held his hands up as he nodded.

“Consider me gone,” William gently shoved Ulrich towards Jeremie as he walked off. “See you, Ulrich! Bye, Einstein!”

Ulrich glowered down the hall at William's retreating back until Jeremie pulled him into his room and closed the door. They stood in silence for a few moments until Ulrich sighed.

“Look, Jer, I'm sor-”

His words were cut off by Jeremie grabbing the collar of his jacket and pulling him down into a kiss. Ulrich turned bright red again as Jeremie pulled him closer. Before he could react, Jeremie had pulled away.

“That...um...I wanted to do that earlier. But you ran away before I could.” Jeremie bit his lip and pulled his turtleneck up to cover part of his burning face as he looked away. “But in that split second between realizing you were kissing me and realizing you were running away, I was...really happy. Then you ran away and I thought I did something wrong.”

Ulrich’s eyes widened and he laughed in disbelief. “You mean you thought I was mad at you? Jeremie, I kissed you out of the blue, figuring you didn't like me like that, and then ran off without a word because I thought you were mad at me!”

Jeremie shook his head and smiled. “No, I was more worried about you than anything. I knew I liked you, but you only just came out to yourself, much less the group. I...wanted to give you time to work through any feelings about it you may have had before I mentioned anything.”

Ulrich grinned and hesitated before he leaned down and gently kissed him again. Jeremie smiled into his lips and leaned up into it. After a few seconds, they pulled apart and Ulrich kissed Jeremie's cheek.

“I'm gonna tell William the movie we were gonna watch is off. Do you...wanna work more from our physics book? I can go to the rec center on a snack run and we can stay up here a while.”

“Sounds like a date to me,” Jeremie smiled as he pulled out his notebook. “I’ll whip up some practice problems while you're gone.”

XxXxXxXxXxX

“Okay, did something happen? I'm getting a weird feeling, but I can't tell from where.” Yumi raised an eyebrow at her tablemates.

Ulrich looked to Jeremie before chuckling softly and pulling out his phone. A quick group text later, and everyone besides the two of them were checking their own phones.

“Jeremy and I are dating now, so yeah. That's probably it.”

“Wait a second!” Odd's voice was as hushed as it was frantic. “I thought you were dating William! Always going out to coffee and the music store without me!”

“No way!” William's face scrunched up. “He's like my brother now.”

“Same, that'd be weird,” Ulrich laughed. Yumi snickered as Odd pouted.

“Told you it was Jeremie. Pay up!” She held her hand out and Odd grumbled as he put a five in it.

“You took bets?” Ulrich looked at her incredulously.

“Well yeah, figured I might as well profit somehow from our weird not dating time,” Yumi shrugged and drank her tea with a smirk. Ulrich rolled his eyes and tried to kick her under the table. He blanched when Aelita yelped.

“I'm so sorry, Princess!” He passed his fruit cup onto her tray and she stuck her tongue out as she took it.

“I suppose I can forgive you this once,” Aelita smirked as she took his cake too. “But be more careful next time!”

“You got it. More careful.” Ulrich sighed and laughed.

They continued chatting until the bell for class rang, and parted ways. Aelita and William grinned at each other as they moved so as to hide Jeremie and Ulrich for a moment. Ulrich took the opportunity to grab Jeremie's hand and squeeze it gently. Jeremie smiled and squeezed back.

William and Aelita didn't separate from the two until they were apart again, smiling as they all walked out in different directions to their different classes.

Halfway through class, Jeremie received a text that was an emoticon and a letter.

<3 -U

Jeremy smiled and sent a heart back, grinning from ear to ear.


End file.
